New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS) Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and 21 others were acquitted on Friday by a city court in the high-profile state excise policy case.

Delhi’s Rouse Court Avenue Court judgment came after a nearly two-year-long legal battle that had dominated headlines and influenced the national capital’s political climate.

The court verdict has elicited sharp political reactions with opposition parties accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of “unleashing” central agencies on them for political gains.

The case, investigated by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), revolved around allegations of irregularities and corruption in the formulation of Delhi’s 2021-22 liquor policy.

Prosecutors had claimed that the policy was designed to benefit select private players in exchange for kickbacks.

Both Kejriwal and Sisodia consistently denied the charges, calling them “politically motivated” and a “smear campaign”.

The CBI said that it will soon move the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court verdict, asserting that several crucial aspects of its investigation “have either been ignored or not considered adequately”.

The trial court said that there was no evidence of conspiracy or criminal intent, and that the policy changes were part of a legitimate governance decision-making process.

The acquittal of Kejriwal and Sisodia is expected to have far-reaching political implications.

While Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a major electoral setback in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, the clean chit could give the party a political handle ahead of the upcoming municipal and state polls.

Soon after being acquitted, Kejriwal broke down in front of the media.

“Truth has won. This is not just my victory, but a victory for the people of Delhi who stood by us,” Kejriwal said.

“They (BJP) made us suffer; they sent Arvind ji and his colleagues to jail and inflicted hardships. But I always put my trust in God, and that truth would prevail,” Sunita Kejriwal, Arvind Kejriwal’s wife, said.

Sisodia echoed the sentiment, adding that the case had been a “test of resilience and faith in the judiciary”.

Congress leader Pawan Khera raised questions about the timing of legal actions in various cases, saying, “Everything is before you. Is it a coincidence that certain actions take place around elections? People are carefully observing these patterns.”

Among those named in the case was the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.

“The AAP Government led by Kejriwal was brought down in the name of the so-called liquor scam, and the political casualty of that narrative was the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in both the Assembly & Parliament elections. Kavita Garu got justice in court today and in the same manner, every case registered against our leaders will be conclusively exposed as false, politically motivated, and fabricated,” K. Kavitha’s brother and BRS Working President K.T. Rama Rao said on social media platform X.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva criticised the AAP followers celebrating the court judgment, accusing Kejriwal and Sisodia of destroying SIM cards and other evidence.

The court’s decision is based on the technical ground of “lack of evidence” and in no way amounts to a “clean chit” to Kejriwal, Sachdeva said.

“If the excise policy was appropriate, why was it withdrawn immediately after the investigation began? What was the objective behind increasing the commission percentage for contractors? Why was a ‘buy one, get one free’ scheme introduced?” the Delhi BJP Chief asked.

He also said that the people of Delhi have already delivered their verdict after the state Assembly elections by removing him from power, thereby accepting that Kejriwal is corrupt.

The case pertains to the Delhi Excise Policy, formulated by Kejriwal’s government in November 2021, to revamp and bring a structural overhaul of liquor businesses and regulation in the national capital.

Within months of policy rollout, the AAP found itself in the throes of controversy with the BJP accusing it of colluding with the liquor mafia to fill its coffers.

The policy was subsequently scrapped a year later in 2022.

A case was lodged following a report by the then Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena in July 2022, which pointed at multiple “procedural lapses and lacunas” in policy formulation.

–IANS

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